Owning The Hand Your Dealt
Twelve years ago, my degree stopped. This year, I decided I wouldn’t.
This blog post is my authentic story about overcoming adversity and a reminder that
1. It’s never too late to finish what you started.
2. It’s never too late to choose yourself
3. It’s never too late to stop explaining your past and owning your story in order to start shaping your future.
My father spent sixteen years working at Reynolds Metals/ Alcoa before a serious injury put him out on disability. My mother worked whatever minimum wage manufacturing jobs were available to keep food on the table and sometimes a second or third job for extra income. When my parents divorced while I was still young, school became something I had to figure out on my own. There were no roadmaps, no pressure to excel, no long conversations about college or what came next. I grew up with nothing handed to me and I stopped waiting for permission to build a different life, that I wanted.
But somewhere along the way, I decided my circumstances wouldn’t get the final say. A few positive adult role models stepped in at the right moments and showed me what accountability, encouragement, and belief could look like. That was enough. I found my own drive, pushed myself academically, and graduated in the top twenty of my class.
Still, success doesn’t erase inexperience. I was a first generation college student with no real understanding of what college actually cost or how financial aid truly worked. In 2008, during the major college boom, I enrolled at an out of state private college because it felt like the “right” next step. Scholarships and federal aid helped, but there was still a major gap that could only be filled with loans. This was my only deterrent from joining the Marines out of high school, as the recruiter sat at my table with the paperwork ready to sign and two generations of military veterans in my father and grandfather advising me towards college.
My grandparents co-signed a private loan, and without them, I wouldn’t have made it through the first year.
I transferred twice after that, trying to make it work financially by returning in-state. Then, during my seventh semester, my grandmother, the one person who could help me bridge that gap, passed away. Without her, the math stopped working. I had no one left who could co-sign. No fallback plan.
So I withdrew.
I walked away with nearly eighty thousand dollars in student loan debt and no degree to show for it. That’s not a sob story, it’s just the reality of the decision I had to make at the time.
From there, I didn’t stop. I worked harder. I pushed into leadership roles in sales, then into executive leadership roles in the nonprofit sector as an Executive Director and Director of Development. I built a career the hard way, through results, relationships, and relentless effort. Along the way, I paid down nearly eighty percent of that student loan debt while raising a family.
And yet, not finishing my degree has always lingered in the background. No matter how much experience I gained, there were still doors that quietly closed before I could knock.
For a long time, I could’ve blamed the system. The cost of education. The lack of guidance. The timing. The loss. But blame doesn’t build anything. Ownership does.
Finishing my degree now, twelve years later isn’t about proving something to anyone else. It’s a personal commitment. A way of closing the loop. A recognition that paths don’t have to be linear to be valid and that setbacks don’t disqualify you from finishing strong.
Forge & Freedom has always been about this exact idea, owning your story, adapting to the terrain, and continuing forward regardless of circumstances. Not everything worth accomplishing happens on schedule. Some things take longer because they’re forged under pressure.
I want to reiterate.
It’s never too late to finish what you started.
It’s never too late to choose yourself
it’s never too late to stop explaining your past and start shaping your future.
🔥 From the Forge,
Zachary
